“Gremlins” is a 1984 comedy horror film written by Chris Columbus and directed by Joe Dante. The film stars Zach Galligan as Billy Peltzer, Phoebe Cates as Kate Beringer, and Howie Mandel as the voice of Gizmo, with the supporting cast including Corey Feldman and Dick Miller. The film tells the story of Billy Peltzer who receives a strange animal called a Mogwai as a Christmas gift and after he breaks the 3 rules of the Mogwai, keeping them away from bright light, not getting them wet, and the most important rule never feed them after midnight, him and his town pay by getting an army of Gremlins.
The film was one of the reasons for the PG-13 rating being made, with it being almost too violent and dark for a PG rating but not violent enough for an R rating, but the film ended up with the PG rating. Some people were put off by Kate’s dark backstory of her father dying while trying to pretend to be Santa Claus and breaking his neck in the chimney. The film is also really funny with gremlins getting drunk in Kate’s bar which includes a noir gremlin, an 80s workout video gremlin, and the famous flasher gremlin. One of the most famous scenes from the movie is when the gremlins gather in a movie theater and watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and then Billy and Kate blow them up using the theater’s gas line. The film is one of the best 80s films of all time, add that to the list, and I think it is well worth a watch. Fun fact the film “Gremlins” was released the same day as “Ghostbusters”, June 8, 1984.
